We definitely are going to buy a used Honda Odyssey. We know which feature we want, and will probably get an EX-L. (I've already seen here that we should skip a Touring unless de-PAXed, '06 and up for 5 tethers, budget for timing belt replacement - thanks!) We've been leaning towards an '06-'10. But I have two questions.
Firstly, does it seem like a good strategy to get a used car that already has 85-125K miles on it, if I don't put many miles on my car myself? We have salt on the roads here in the winter, and I don't know if we'd benefit from getting an older vehicle with low mileage. We're (too) frugal, and I'd like to spend about $13,000, but really we could spend up to about $25,000. (We've seen 2 lately: both EX-L w/ DVD: '06, 98K miles for $13K and '09, 54K miles for $20K.) Thoughts?
Secondly, we want to put two rear-facing seats in the 2nd row and still have 3rd row access that grandparents can navigate. Which is better: the earlier scheme where you can take out the middle (8th) seat in the 2nd row and move over one captain's chair to allow for an aisle, or the '11+ where wide mode allows you to put one car seat on the side, on in the 8th, middle seat, and then people can still easily get into the 3rd row AND an adult can sit in one of the two captain's chairs in the 2nd row? I've heard that putting a rear-facing car seat in that 8th seat isn't safe, but I have no idea if that is true.
Thanks!
Firstly, does it seem like a good strategy to get a used car that already has 85-125K miles on it, if I don't put many miles on my car myself? We have salt on the roads here in the winter, and I don't know if we'd benefit from getting an older vehicle with low mileage. We're (too) frugal, and I'd like to spend about $13,000, but really we could spend up to about $25,000. (We've seen 2 lately: both EX-L w/ DVD: '06, 98K miles for $13K and '09, 54K miles for $20K.) Thoughts?
Secondly, we want to put two rear-facing seats in the 2nd row and still have 3rd row access that grandparents can navigate. Which is better: the earlier scheme where you can take out the middle (8th) seat in the 2nd row and move over one captain's chair to allow for an aisle, or the '11+ where wide mode allows you to put one car seat on the side, on in the 8th, middle seat, and then people can still easily get into the 3rd row AND an adult can sit in one of the two captain's chairs in the 2nd row? I've heard that putting a rear-facing car seat in that 8th seat isn't safe, but I have no idea if that is true.
Thanks!